Shortcrust Pastry

Shortcrust pastry is the most popular of all pastries and is probably the easiest to make, whether by hand or in the food processor. If it is for a sweet recipe then add sugar. The recipe is easily scaled up or down: half fat to flour. The fat can either be all butter/hard margarine or a combination of this and lard/white fat. The latter give a 'shorter' texture.

The quantities of pastry in a recipe refer to the amount of flour required and not the weight of the total ingredients.